Skip to main content

It's downright dangerous being a journalist

We might like having the news brought to us in our living rooms - be it via TV, radio or the print media - but the dangers facing the journalists working out there to bring us that news has risen greatly.   The will come a time when unless they are foolhardy, journalists just won't venture into various countries or areas.

"2014 has been a grim year for journalists. Two leading press freedom groups have released their annual reports on the abuse and imprisonment of journalists around the globe and the evidence paints a world increasingly "barbaric" for those seeking to report on global events.

Reflecting what the group says is a "global surge in authoritarianism," the annual census by the international nonprofit Committee to Protect Journalists has found that, for the third year in a row, more than 200 journalists are behind bars.

The CPJ report, published Wednesday, says that 220 journalists are currently in government custody, marking the second highest number of imprisoned journalists worldwide since the group began keeping records in 1990.

Of those jailed, 132 journalists, or 60 percent, are being held on anti-state charges such as "subversion" or "terrorism." Further, there have been no charges disclosed for 20 percent of the journalists held. According to the tally, with 44 imprisoned journalists, China tops the list as the "world's worst jailer of 2014," with Iran as second, with 33.

CPJ's prison tally only includes those being held by the government and not those in custody of nonstate actors, such as the Islamic State (or ISIS), nor does it include those identified as "missing" or "abducted."

Reporters Without Borders' annual roundup of abuses against journalists, published Tuesday, found that 66 journalists were murdered this year and a total of 119 were kidnapped, an increase of more than 35% from 2013. According to their estimates, 40 journalists are currently being held hostage."

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Reading the Chilcot Inquiry Report more closely

Most commentary on the Chilcot Inquiry Report of and associated with the Iraq War, has been "lifted" from the Executive Summary.   The Intercept has actually gone and dug into the Report, with these revelations : "THE CHILCOT REPORT, the U.K.’s official inquiry into its participation in the Iraq War, has finally been released after seven years of investigation. Its executive summary certainly makes former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who led the British push for war, look terrible. According to the report, Blair made statements about Iraq’s nonexistent chemical, biological, and nuclear programs based on “what Mr. Blair believed” rather than the intelligence he had been given. The U.K. went to war despite the fact that “diplomatic options had not been exhausted.” Blair was warned by British intelligence that terrorism would “increase in the event of war, reflecting intensified anti-US/anti-Western sentiment in the Muslim world, including among Muslim communities in the

An unpalatable truth!

Quinoa has for the last years been the "new" food on the block for foodies. Known for its health properties, foodies the world over have taken to it. Many restaurants have added it to their menu. But, as this piece " Can vegans stomach the unpalatable truth about quinoa? " from The Guardian so clearly details, the cost to Bolivians and Peruvians - from where quinoa hails - has been substantial. "Not long ago, quinoa was just an obscure Peruvian grain you could only buy in wholefood shops. We struggled to pronounce it (it's keen-wa, not qui-no-a), yet it was feted by food lovers as a novel addition to the familiar ranks of couscous and rice. Dieticians clucked over quinoa approvingly because it ticked the low-fat box and fitted in with government healthy eating advice to "base your meals on starchy foods". Adventurous eaters liked its slightly bitter taste and the little white curls that formed around the grains. Vegans embraced quinoa as

Climate change: Well-organised hoax?

There are still some - all too sadly people with a voice who are listened to - who assert that climate change is a hoax. Try telling that to the people of Colorado who recently experienced horrendous bushfires, or the people of Croatia suffering with endless days of temps of 40 degrees (and not much less than 30 at night time) some 8-10 degrees above the norm. Bill McKibben, take up the issue of whether climate change is a hoax, on The Daily Beast : Please don’t sweat the 2,132 new high temperature marks in June—remember, climate change is a hoax. The first to figure this out was Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, who in fact called it “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people,” apparently topping even the staged moon landing. But others have been catching on. Speaker of the House John Boehner pointed out that the idea that carbon dioxide is “harmful to the environment is almost comical.” The always cautious Mitt Romney scoffed at any damage too: “Scientists will fig